Laptop help.

[chargirlgenius]

I’m in the market for a new laptop, for work and for play. It’ll be my personal laptop (purchased by me), but it has to perform well enough to handle being a work laptop twice a week as well. I get a bit of a deal on Dell systems from work, so I’ve been looking in that directions. Don’t know exactly what kind of discount yet.

All of the cheaper, home-use Dells have glossy screens, and after using the glossy on the Vaio, I’ve realized that I hate it. I’d like to be able to work outside or at the kitchen table, and glare is a big problem there.

We don’t do a lot of heavy gaming, really, Jeff just plays a lot of Mafia Wars and the like, but that’s about it. I don’t game at all. I know myself and don’t want to get addicted. :-D

Some video editing capabilities would be nice, but it doesn’t have to be high end. We’re talking home movies stuff.

I tend to have lots of windows open at once. Our current laptop acts like a dinosaur in that regard, though it’s only a couple of years old. I’m thinking I want 4GB of RAM. What kind of performance difference am I going to see between, say, 2.26GHz, 3M L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB, and 2.53GHz, 3M L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB? If I’m not gaming, does that matter more, or memory matter more?

Can you tell I’m a computer moron?

Integrated mobile wireless with Verizon is a nice-to-have, but not necessary. If it’s not included, I’ll probably just tether my crackberry to it.

I won’t be carrying it back and forth to work, but I don’t want a brick either. Can’t afford a Macbook Air. :-D I want a decent sized screen, though I’ll eventually get a second monitor and dock it. Needs to be able to dock. Can all laptops dock?

So, recommendations? I'm open to Mac, but price is a consideration. I’ve been leaning towards a Dell Latitude E6500, with XP instead of Vista, upgraded to 4GB RAM, and the Verizon built-in Mobile Broadband (they have a rebate so it’s free).

ETA: For that matter, is Vista really that bad?

Comments

[aeddie.livejournal.com]

If you don't have a 64-bit operating system, either XP or Vista the OS can't take advantage of the 4GB of memory.

If your CrackBerry is from Verizon (or possibly other carriers) using it as a tethered modem would be cheaper than a mobile card in the notebook.

I've got a 17" screen on my HP but I think that for most people a 15.4" would work better. However on this size screen you don't usually get a number pad.

Almost all notebooks have some way to dock, either through a docking port or a universal dock through the USB port.

[tedeisenstein.livejournal.com]

Can’t afford a Macbook Air. :-D

It's a nice computer for travel, yessir; mine went with me through Europe last fall quite well, with no trouble at all. I'd be seriously tempted to sell you my somewhat used Mac Air, cheap, because I'm thinking of getting the larger-drive faster-chip version...but money's going for other things right now, like inventory.

However: there's only one USB port, one tiny port for video out (in case you want a separate monitor), and a tiny thing for earphones. If you have an external back-up drive and a printer, you'd be out of luck.

[karolines.livejournal.com]

Re: Can you tell I’m a computer moron?

you can tell i'm not. when looking for a new laptop (last year?) ryan asked me what i wanted. apart from the lack of technical terms, i told him something good that when he took it to play with his bros & sister's laptop that ours would go "zot" and their's would respond with a pitiful "we surrender"...

however, get a big enough screen that you can get a # pad. ryan IS frustrated trying to work at home from this thing because the screen is too small, and a number pad is something I REALLY miss.

[verymelm.livejournal.com]

The E-series Dell laptops tend to be a little unreliable to dock. I don't know much detail on this, but I know that those folks who are replacing laptops on campus this year are looking for any other alternative than having to go with the E-series. I have a D830 Latitude for work and it's fine, but I don't think you can get them anymore.

I'd think about how you're going to use it, really. My work laptop is a straight up laptop with a slightly wider than standard screen and for most non-docked work, it's fine, but trying to pull a full day working on it out of dock (and therefore without my keyboard, mouse and monitor) drives me a little batty. My personal laptop is an HP entertainment something or other and it's a full size keyboard with keypad and wide screen. It's about 7.5 pounds, but *much* easier to work with as a stand-alone machine for long periods of time. It's not a laptop that is easy to travel with, though - in addition to being heavy, it's just plain big.

I'd also verify that you'll be using your own computer as a work computer when you work from home. If all I need to do is check email, I can work from my personal laptop, but if I need to log into the VPN, I have to do that from a work computer - they won't install the software on a personal computer because they can't control what else will be on the system that might compromise things. If you're doing anything that requires any sort of security or transmission of data, I'd be *very* surprised if they didn't issue you a machine with which to work from home.

[verymelm.livejournal.com]

On Vista, you're likely to get a range of opinions. I don't mind it. I run it on both my work and home laptops and other than the User Account Control thing being annoyingly reminiscent of why I don't like Macs, I've not had any issues. I've run 32-bit Vista on my work laptop for the last year or so and 64-bit on my home laptop for that and some change and have had absolutely no performance issues on either. I tend to use the Office suite and Firefox, in addition to some SQL developer tools and a couple statistical analysis packages at work. I run Warcraft on my home laptop without a hiccup and frequently use it to watch movies. *shrug*

[tudorpot.livejournal.com]

A vote for the Mac. I'm not up on the latest configs- but you will save a lot of money after purchase by NOT having to get the Geek squad in- or deal with frequent crashes and viral infections, spy ware etc. My Mac Powerbook G4 will be 5 years old in October-one hard drive replaced as I dropped the laptop. Applecare is a good investment- replacing power cords, hard drive and a broken internal wire. There are several mac laptops out there- so don't just look at the Air.

[teffan.livejournal.com]

In terms of XP/Vista... you might just be better off getting Windows 7 when it comes out later this year - depending on how quickly you're looking to purchase the laptop. Vista fully-patched (at least 2 patches now) seems to be a lot better than the initial offerings, but I know people had trouble getting it to play nice with other programs. You'll also want to consider compatibility with whatever work programs you may need to install, like verymelm said.

[finnfinnegan.livejournal.com]

Points to consider:

Screen size: with a laptop if that’s how you are primarily using it then bigger is better. If you don’t have to really travel with it, go as big as you can. You never hear anyone complain that their screen is too big.

Memory (RAM): Don’t worry about the little details of the specs. With your level/what you are doing, just consider the big number 2GB, 3GB, 4GB, etc.

Processor: This will make the most difference on your application speed. I have not looked at the details of laptops chipsets recently, but go as big/fast as you can within your budget.

Video card: This is where you can save some $. If you don’t do any gaming (or light gaming), then you don’t need anything major. Just the standard on-board video will work (and save some $). Power gamers can drop some serious coin do get the right card.

Docking station: Don’t worry about it. Unless you are going to be connecting to and un-connecting to a set of peripherals (extra monitor, printer, other?) a lot (1/day) I would not worry about it. Most things you have to plug into your laptop are easy with USB ports. You can always start without one and see how things work and then if you decide it’s not worth the hassle then buy one later.

Good luck.

[martykp.livejournal.com]

The contractors at work have the Dell E series with the broadband card in them and they like them esp. when ever they go away from the office. They haven't had any problems other than getting the Army master os put on them when they got them.

Second comment.

[aeddie.livejournal.com]

I don't find Vista that bad. It just takes a bit of getting used to. Now that there have been a couple Service Packs it runs a lot faster and is more stable.

Plus, according to this article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31544290/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/ if you get a Vista system starting Friday you'll get a free upgrade to Windows 7.

[cbellfleur.livejournal.com]

We're looking, too. My laptop died in March and we have yet to replace it. Richard wants one to take to Governor's School next week.
This one (Charlie's, officially, but we're all using it) runs Vista and it took a few days to get used to, but seems to be ok.

Jeb's company keeps sending info on HP. And VCCS (Virginia Community College) also hypes HP. They actually point out the difference between HP's business and commercial models, such as a longer warranty and more robust hardware on the business models which are apparently not available thru places like Best Buy.

[alienor.livejournal.com]

I haven't had any problems with Vista on my new desktop, and you have to have a 64-bit OS to get windows to recognize over 3 GB of RAM. Vista is sluggish on N's laptop, but he only has 2 GB of RAM and a slower processor (I forget exactly, but I think it's in the 1.x GHz dual core realm).

[usagi629.livejournal.com]

I think a glossy screen is the only way you CAN work outdoors... the 'matte' screens aren't bright enough to allow you to work outdoors unless you're under cover/shade...

you might consider going to best buy or somewhere and test driving some Dells and other models to find what you like/don't like... I'm in the market for a new laptop too... but I'm less concerned with performance and more concerned with portability but without going blind.. so 15 inch is probably what I'll go with...

I'll probably go with a vista / ubuntu dual boot machine, but I'd think you'd just want a vista machine to be more compatible with work...

They won't buy you a laptop for work?